Rural Employment: Trends, Options, Choices

Originally published in 1981, the main thesis of this book is that rural labour markets are at the core of the problem of rural depopulation in development countries. Therefore, the success or failure of policies seeking to moderate the process of population decline is linked to the policy maker’s ability to influence labour markets constructively. Migration in search of work has been a major cause of rural decline, and its reversal to bring about economically viable communities must be related to the availability of employment in rural areas. The authors argue that the emergence of socially viable communities is the highest aim in rural economic policy making. Economic viability is usually a necessary but not a sufficient condition for social survival. This examination of the problems of choosing appropriate policies for rural areas, though written by two applied economists, will also be of interest to geographers, planner and politicians interested or involved in local and central government in the UK, the USA and Australia.

Ian Hodge is Emeritus Professor of Rural Economy and Life Fellow of Hughes Hall in the University of Cambridge. He came to Cambridge in 1983 and retired in 2019. Prior to Cambridge he lectured at the Universities of Newcastle and Queensland. He was Head of Department of Land Economy, 2002-2011 and President of the Agricultural Economics Society in 2007. He has research interests in the areas of rural environmental governance, property institutions, rural development and land use.

Martin Whitby (1933-2017) was Emeritus Professor of Countryside Management at the University of Newcastle, having established the first undergraduate degree in Countryside Management at the University with Caroline Saunders.